The Forbidden Princess [Paused]

Chapter 6: The Secret Is Out

The guards. They came back. And at the most inconvenient time...

"Who is that? And why did they call you Princess Charlotte?" Jesse asked, stepping back from me.

"It's no one-"

"Princess! Is everything alright in there?" the guards asked again.

"Char, tell me the truth. Why are they calling you, Princess?" Jesse insisted.

"You have to trust me, okay? I need you to hide outside my window. After they leave I'll get you," I told him.

Jesse nodded and jumped out the window, leaving me behind.

"You may enter," I addressed the guards.

Two guards came in, one carrying my violin and the other carrying my nightgown.

"Princess, are these the exact items you asked for?" asked the guard with my violin. "If not, it is no trouble to go back for the correct ones."

"Oh no. These are what I wanted. Thank you both so much." I took the violin, violin bow, and clothing from them and laid them on my bed. "I do have one more favor if that is alright."

"Anything for our Princess," they both said, slightly bowing.

"Is it possible to grab my mother's stuffed bear from my room also? I just miss it and would really want it here with me," I requested, trying to sound very broken-hearted over not having the bear in my possession.

"Of course, Miss! Anything to make your time down here better! We shall be going now to retrieve it for you."

They both headed out the door so fast I almost couldn't catch their attention.

"Wait! I do have a question before you go off."

"Of course," said one guard. "What is your question, Miss?"

I placed my hands together behind my back. "Why would you go against Father and help me?"

The other guard stepped forward and smiled. "Because, Princess, you have always been nicer to us. Besides, you are almost Queen. You shouldn't be down here. You should be preparing to run a country. We all think your father was wrong to punish you this harshly. We want to help you as much as possible."

Wow. They were on my side. I mean, if we had sides now. It finally all snapped as to why they were so eager to help me: they believed I shouldn't be here. They believed I should be in charge. (I think.) They believed in me.

"We shall be off now, Miss. We will be right back," they said, once again bowing and left, shutting the door behind them.

I ran to the window to see Jesse sitting against the house staring blankly straight ahead.

"Jesse?" I called, leaning out the window.

He didn't answer. He just shook his head side to side as slow as he could.

"Jesse come inside and we can talk."

"I can't believe..." he whispered.

"Jesse come up here so I can explain," I said, trying once again to get his attention.

He wouldn't budge, so I decided to join him on the ground. I jumped out the window and sat myself down beside him. He didn't move his head to look at me; just stared straight ahead.

After a couple minutes of nothing out of him, I spoke up. "Jesse, I'm sorry. I couldn't tell anyone. If I did, Father would have punished me much more. Please, you can't tell anyone."